In my previous article, I explained the three types of projects your organization may undertake. Here I expand on the first type, internal projects, which face some unique barriers to success:
Herding cats in achieving agreement on scope
Awkward adolescence of internal PM processes
The optics obsession with perception over truth
It’s personal in terms of the PM’s career
Mutiny against the PM
Herding cats in achieving agreement on scope
For an internal PM, it might be extremely uncomfortable to manage the expectations of senior management personnel, who usually are several levels above in the corporate hierarchy. It’s hard to say no to an executive on whom your career and success with the organization depend. Managing this issue requires an immense investment of time and effort into locating possibilities of compromise.
Awkward adolescence of internal PM processes
Especially for organizations with low PM maturity, if the rules of the game are not established, there will always be a political struggle over getting requirements collected, documented, and later delivered as per expectations. If there is no documentation to set a baseline for requirements, scope, and expectations, there will always be someone who is disappointed after the project’s completion, no matter how successful it might be.
The optics obsession with perception over truth
For many internal projects, corporate politics and leadership’s perception about the project’s success or failure will define how the organization interprets the results. This optics obsession can lead to a great project being considered a failure, and a real failure being regarded as a great success. The more powerful the allies a PM can get support from, the more “successful” their project appears, regardless of whether its goals have really been achieved.
It’s personal in terms of the PM’s career
As described earlier, the perceived value and success of an internal project can have big implications for the PM’s career within the organization. Thriving in a politically contentious environment requires a special set of personal traits that not all PMs have. In this environment, stakeholder management and emotional intelligence might be the defining factors. In addition, being a servant-leader rather than an alpha-driver (a common disposition among those who choose a PM career) may be a differentiator.
Mutiny against the PM
When the PM’s role and authority are not properly defined and understood, team members may perceive the PM’s leadership on the project as inappropriate and incompatible with their day-to-day work. Turf wars may arise out of nowhere, with the whole responsibility falling on the PM. If the organization does not define the PM’s level of authority and leadership fails to provide support and protection, these conflicts will escalate, which may personally impact the PM and other team members.
With so many challenges facing internal PMs as they try to manage their coworkers while navigating office politics, hiring a PM consultant can be the best choice for project success, as I explain in the next article.
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